What's for Dinner???

I hear this question everyday at work. My friends DeeAnn and Tammy ask me. My co-teacher, Jan, ask me. My husband ask me and as I mentioned before, Sophie ask me on the way home....I guess you get the picture! And in all honesty, I really don't mind! I love talking about food! I love to eat! I don't know many teachers (or people for that matter) that don't!

Well, tonight we stayed home from church (after saying in my previous post that we go whenever the church building is open, but we are all three sick right now with colds and crud...so, we had a reason). I had Creamy Chicken and Broccoli Casserole on the menu for tonight (post about my menus is coming soon). I got the recipe from the Blog "Pearls, Handcuffs, and Happy Hour" found on Pinterest. We love love cheese in this house and Sophie loves broccoli (usually). I like easy and quick! This recipe was bound to be a winner!

The ingredients were:

3 chicken breast cooked and shredded (I have a trick I found on Pinterest for shredded chicken)

2 cans of cream of chicken

1 cup of mayo

1 bag of frozen broccoli, thawed and chopped

1 cup cheddar cheese (I used sharp)

1 cup colby and moterey jack cheese

salt and pepper to taste (I forgot to add this, but it still tasted good to me)

I boiled my chicken first...

Yum...not really, but...

Okay, here is my trick to shredding my chicken and it works great!!! I take it and put it in my Kitchen Aid mixer (thanks, Mom!) with the paddle attachment and put it on medium to low for a minute (literally! It doesn't take long at all). It shreds it perfectly. Found this on Pinterest from the blog "Simply, Healthy, Family."

Before

After and it took no time at all!

Next I chopped my broccoli. I used my Pampered Chef knife set! I got it at a huge discount because I had a party! I use Melissa Bundrick for all of my parties. She is not only family, she is a true professional and has really embraced being a Pampered Chef consultant. She truly believes in her products and does a great job. If you are in the Valdosta, Tifton, or not too far away area, I highly recommend her. Anyway, back to my casserole!

I thawed out the broccoli. I used Great Value broccoli (the Wal-Mart brand). I really use the Wal-Mart brand of a lot of things. I can't tell a difference in recipes and why pay more when I am just mixing it with a bunch of other stuff???

I love my little pear soap in the background from my friend, Randy! Get yours at At Home on 12th.

Got my handy Kindle right there!

I then put all of my ingredients in my mixing bowl and mixed it together. Then I put it in a greased casserole dish. I used my Paula Deen square baker...I just love the red, not really that it is a Paula Deen.

Yummy!!!

Sophie had to have a peek!

I baked it at 375 for 40 minutes. When I pulled it out after 30, I was scared the middle wasn't all the way done. So I put it back in! In the meantime, Sophie organized my cookware...

And I made brown rice. I know what you are thinking "Brown rice??? Ewww!!!" Well, that is all we eat in our house. Don't get me wrong, I love good ole white rice as much as the next person, but with Klint being diabetic, we do what we can to help his sugar and eating brown rice and whole wheat pasta (and whole wheat bread) is how we do it. Some really quick advice, when getting into the whole wheat pasta, start small! Do angel hair or a thin spaghetti. Starting off with a fettuccine or linguine may turn you off completely. Work up to those. Also, baking whole wheat pasta as in lasagna or ziti, really helps. It taste just like regular pasta!

I used my Pampered Chef rice cooker when cooking rice. As seen below.

I put a cup of brown rice and almost three cups of water in my pot and put it in the microwave for five minutes, just enough time to get it bowling. Next, I turn it back on for another 20 minutes on 50% power until done. Brown rice has a crunch to it. It isn't that it's not done....it just comes out that way. When cooking white rice, I use one cup of rice, two cups of water and cook for five minutes and 18 minutes. It comes out perfect every time!

The dinner was a huge hit. Sophie ate it. Klint loved it and compared it to one his mom used to make (always a compliment to say that you cook like your husband's mom) and I loved it! There were a lot of left overs too for lunch and leftover night! I will make this recipe again for sure!

A side note: Sorry my pictures are so awful! I used my phone because my little camera is missing it's charger! As soon as I get it charged I will use it and maybe we will have better pictures!